Red Line speeds to increase in August

Thursday

The first of three signal bays damaged in a June 11 derailment near JFK/UMass Station will be coming back online by Aug. 15.

QUINCY — Red Line trains headed south will be speeding up by Aug. 15, according to MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak.

Red Line riders have been dealing with lingering delays stemming from a June 11 derailment near JFK/UMass Station in which a Red Line train slammed into three plywood bungalows that house the sensitive computers and electrical equipment that operate the control signals and switches on the tracks.

During a walk-through of the soon-to-reopen Wollaston Station on Wednesday, Poftak said the first of those three bungalows would be coming back online by Aug. 15 and with it, he said riders would train speeds increase.

"To get back on automatic operation is going to be a big improvement," Poftak said.

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The derailment caused catastrophic damage to the MBTA's automated switches and signaling system that has forced crews stationed along the tracks to manually direct traffic. To keep workers safe, fewer trains have been allowed to pass along the tracks than is typical under automatic operation.

The worst effects of the derailment have been felt by riders coming or going from Quincy and Braintree and Poftak said the T has seen a dip in ridership along the Red Line since the derailment.

In the week following the derailment ridership declined across the Red Line, with the biggest dips in ridership happening at stations in Quincy and Braintree, where it dropped 27 percent, according to MBTA data.

In the following weeks, ridership at those most-affected stations has rebounded, but as of the second week in July, ridership is still down 12 percent in Quincy and Braintree when compared with ridership in the first week of June.

"We're making progress on the Red Line and as service improves and stations re-open, we will get riders back," Poftak said.

Reach Erin Tiernan at etiernan@patriotledger.com or 617-786-7320. Follow her on Twitter @ErinTiernan.

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